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Influences on diet quality in older age: the importance of social factors.
- Source :
-
Age & Ageing . Mar2017, Vol. 46 Issue 2, p277-283. 7p. 2 Charts, 1 Graph. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Background: poor diet quality is common among older people, but little is known about influences on food choice, including the role of psychosocial factors at this age. Objective: to identify psychosocial correlates of diet quality in a community-dwelling population of men and women aged 59-73 years; to describe relationships with change in diet quality over 10 years. Design: Longitudinal cohort, Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS). Subjects: HCS participants assessed at baseline (1998-2003: 1,048 men, 862 women); 183 men and 189 women re-assessed in 2011. Methods: diet was assessed by administered food frequency questionnaire; diet scores were calculated to describe diet quality at baseline and follow-up. A range of psychosocial factors (social support, social network, participation in leisure activities, depression and anxiety, sense of control) were assessed by questionnaire. Results: at baseline, better diet quality was related to a range of social factors, including increased confiding/emotional social support (men and women), practical support (men) and a larger social network (women) (all P < 0.05). For both men and women, greater participation in social and cognitive leisure activities was related to better diet quality (P < 0.005). There were few associations between measured psychosocial factors at baseline and change in diet score over 10 years, in the follow-up sub-group. However, greater participation in leisure activities, especially cognitive activities, at baseline was associated with smaller declines in diet quality over the 10-year follow-up period for both men (P = 0.017) and women (P = 0.014). Conclusions: in community-dwelling older adults, a range of social factors, that includes greater participation in leisure activities, were associated with diets of better quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *DIET & psychology
*CONTROL (Psychology)
*AGE distribution
*ANXIETY
*CHI-squared test
*COGNITION
*CONFIDENCE intervals
*MENTAL depression
*DIET
*FOOD habits
*FOOD preferences
*INTERVIEWING
*LEISURE
*LONGITUDINAL method
*PROBABILITY theory
*QUESTIONNAIRES
*RESEARCH funding
*SOCIAL networks
*SOCIAL participation
*T-test (Statistics)
*MULTIPLE regression analysis
*SOCIAL support
*INDEPENDENT living
*DATA analysis software
*DESCRIPTIVE statistics
*MANN Whitney U Test
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00020729
- Volume :
- 46
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Age & Ageing
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 121488865
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afw180